When I first walked into a showing of this movie, I thought I had made a mistake because it reminded me of another movie I had seen as a child (The Journey) because of the element of the bus in the snow trapped behind enemy lines. But it turned out to be refreshingly different.
Lionel Evans (Charlton Heston), an internationally acclaimed music conductor touring Europe to entertain allied troops, is captured along with his entire orchestra by a German force commanded by a General Schiller (Maximillian Schell). The name is fitting because just like the towering intellectual, philosopher and lyricist, the general is highly cultured, sensitive and humane. That is not to say, however, that he was not like many Germans of his time in being ultra-nationalistic and therefore, discriminatory of other cultures. This dark aspect of his personality comes to fore when he insists that Evans play Wagnerian music rather than the latter's preference for Beethoven.
Under the Nazis, Beethoven was frowned upon because of the widespread belief that he had Gypsy or perhaps even Jewish ancestry. He was said to be somewhat on the swarthy side of complexion. Wagner on the other hand extolled the purity of blood of the Germanic race in operas such as Parsifal with its veneer as an adventure of a Christian knight but is actually a neo-pagan worship of race. This musical bigotry of the Nazis was exploited by the allies as the BBC regularly played Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with special emphasis on the "Ode to Joy" movement in its broadcasts to occupied Europe and Germany.
The atmospherics are great as the scenes are set in what seems to be a manor with its own castle and cavernous chapel where the symphony orchestra plays classical music.
Despite their differences, the two men get to like one another and as the allied forces close in on the German forces, Evans acquiesces to play a Wagnerian piece for Schiller. The latter for his part invites him to share a bottle of cognac "which Napoleon left unopened" as they discuss the background and implications of the war. Between the two topics, however, I prefer to dwell on Napoleon's bottle of cognac. How would such a thing taste after well over a hundred years? I know we must be wary of very old wine which could still continue fermenting and thus spoil. But cognac is a distilled liquor and so with its high alcohol content, it could almost last forever under tight seal.
I really can't spoil the ending of this movie for you because I don't remember it. But I can make a guess. Schiller lets Evans and his orchestra go while he goes on to face the overwhelmingly superior allied onslaught presumably to his death.
Lionel Evans (Charlton Heston), an internationally acclaimed music conductor touring Europe to entertain allied troops, is captured along with his entire orchestra by a German force commanded by a General Schiller (Maximillian Schell). The name is fitting because just like the towering intellectual, philosopher and lyricist, the general is highly cultured, sensitive and humane. That is not to say, however, that he was not like many Germans of his time in being ultra-nationalistic and therefore, discriminatory of other cultures. This dark aspect of his personality comes to fore when he insists that Evans play Wagnerian music rather than the latter's preference for Beethoven.
Under the Nazis, Beethoven was frowned upon because of the widespread belief that he had Gypsy or perhaps even Jewish ancestry. He was said to be somewhat on the swarthy side of complexion. Wagner on the other hand extolled the purity of blood of the Germanic race in operas such as Parsifal with its veneer as an adventure of a Christian knight but is actually a neo-pagan worship of race. This musical bigotry of the Nazis was exploited by the allies as the BBC regularly played Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with special emphasis on the "Ode to Joy" movement in its broadcasts to occupied Europe and Germany.
The atmospherics are great as the scenes are set in what seems to be a manor with its own castle and cavernous chapel where the symphony orchestra plays classical music.
Despite their differences, the two men get to like one another and as the allied forces close in on the German forces, Evans acquiesces to play a Wagnerian piece for Schiller. The latter for his part invites him to share a bottle of cognac "which Napoleon left unopened" as they discuss the background and implications of the war. Between the two topics, however, I prefer to dwell on Napoleon's bottle of cognac. How would such a thing taste after well over a hundred years? I know we must be wary of very old wine which could still continue fermenting and thus spoil. But cognac is a distilled liquor and so with its high alcohol content, it could almost last forever under tight seal.
I really can't spoil the ending of this movie for you because I don't remember it. But I can make a guess. Schiller lets Evans and his orchestra go while he goes on to face the overwhelmingly superior allied onslaught presumably to his death.